Doubtful
by Setsuna-X
Summary: Deuce worries if he's good enough to be with Cleo and takes it to the extreme. #TAGS# Self-doubt, break-up, getting back together, Boo York, Boo York (movie) ##


When Deuce first saw Cleo he thought she was the prettiest ghoul. She had a flare about her – she was confident, commanding, and beautiful. He knew he had to talk to her at least once.

After fighting through the zomboys (and that was weird) he found that Cleo had felt something upon meeting him too.

At first their chemistry was simply skin deep. He knew he was cool – the hot stuff in the new Monster High and Cleo was meant to be a queen.

It took time for them to start feeling comfortable around one another. Cleo was literally royalty and as such held herself to such high standards that she was drowning in it.

They didn't seem to have much in common. Deuce was street savvy, chill, and had fun hanging with the dudes. Cleo was high-maintenance, high strung, and loved shopping with her ghoulfriends.

Deuce sometimes wondered why he and Cleo were still together, but then something would happen at Monster High – an attack or the school shutting down or even one of her friends needing help and Cleo would be right in there, right in the fray sacrificing herself to help out.

It was the selflessness that was so out of character that drew Deuce in. Once he got past Cleo's superficial outward appearances he could see the ghoul underneath. The ghoul who loved and cared for her friends, who would go out of her way so the people around her didn't have to do without. Cleo's home life was also very complicated and Deuce found that although Cleo put up a strong front she was actually quite vulnerable inside.

This dichotomy was what ended drawing Deuce in – wanting to get to know the ghoul that a lot of other monsters wrote off as shallow.

The problem however was that Deuce didn't know what Cleo saw in him.

He wasn't rich, he had a single mom who supported him, and he didn't care much about fashion or parties.

He was the complete opposite of Cleo. And although they say that opposites attract, there at least has to be some common ground for them to flourish under.

It kept him up at times while he was home. Just what did Cleo see in him?

+++

Despite their differences they seemed to make it work. Cleo made him happy and for some reason he made Cleo happy too. Deuce still hadn't really figured out what Cleo saw in him but he wasn't about to question it – he realized that he had gotten really lucky and wasn't about to jeopardize that.

But soon all his worries and self-doubt came to the forefront.

They were on a trip to Boo York, in order to see the Comet Crystal be revealed. It apparently was something that was really important to Cleo's family as they wanted to make connections to the Ptolemy family who was hosting the gala.

When Cleo had begun talking about the gala and what a splendid party it was going to be, focusing on the fashion, the class, Deuce had been worried. After all this time he still didn't care too much about clothes or outward appearances. If Cleo wanted to dress him up he usually wouldn't care, but when she stuck that egyptian beard thing onto his chin he started to wonder if Cleo wasn't going to be better off with someone that was a little more like her.

The trip ended up being a disaster and he was such and idiot to have thought that he could fit in Cleo's world.

He made a fool of himself during brunch and normally he wasn't that clumsy but mistake after mistake kept happening and he made Cleo look bad. He already knew that her father and sister didn't care for him, and at times outwardly loathed him, but he put up with it because he loved Cleo that much. He didn't care what other people said about him as long as Cleo kept looking only at him.

But then he spoke to Nefera who only voiced what he already knew.

He wasn't good enough for Cleo.

Sooner or later Cleo would realize it and leave him. She was an Egyptian Princess and he was just Deuce, the only son of Medusa and nothing more. He hated how that made him feel, how the gap between them was wider than ever.

Set her free

Nefera's words lingered like poisoned smoke, sticking to his lungs no matter how much Deuce wished to exhale them.

He went back to his room in the fancy hotel that Cleo's dad had gotten for him and thought harder than he ever had. He weighed all the pros and cons, he went through all the photos of him and Cleo on his phone, he cried.

It just wasn't fair.

He didn't want to break up with Cleo, but he loved her so he would.

+++

Actually breaking up with Cleo was worse than he thought. To have to look into her tear-filled eyes and tell her that they could no longer be together was like stabbing himself in the heart. He had to keep reminding himself why he was doing this. He took in the glamorous room around him and realized how perfect Cleo looked in there, how much she deserved to have everything and how she was never going to reach her full potential with him weighing her down.

He broke his own heart as he walked away from Cleo's cries. He almost turned back, almost went back in to scoop Cleo into his arms and never let her go and to comfort her because Cleo should never be crying.

Instead he turned his own heart into stone and willed himself to walk away.

He couldn't force himself to go back to his richly decorated room and found himself wandering around Boo York, trying to get his mind off everything that had happened. In the end he found himself on a bench in the middle of Dreadful Park next to a hot dog cart. He laid down, staring at the night sky, his feelings in turmoil.

The hot dog salesman was nice as he listened to Deuce debate whether he had done the right thing or not. He knew Cleo loved him, even if he still didn't know why but he knew he needed to see her again. You're in Boo York, relish it the cart salesman had said and Deuce took that advice to heart. He had to talk to Cleo again, he couldn't get the thought of her crying out of his head and he needed to make things right.

+++

He wandered around Boo York, but had no real idea where he was or where he was going. It was by pure happenstance that he came across Cleo's friends on Bloodway. He couldn't have been more relieved. Now that he made up his mind to talk to Cleo again he needed to see her soon before his courage wore off.

During his walk around the city he kept thinking over and over if what he had done was the right thing to do, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to let go of Cleo, no matter how selfish that made it.

He might not be a Prince of Boo York, or super fancy and rich, but he loved Cleo.

He loved her smile, her insecurities, her laugh, her cunning mind – he loved her and he knew they belonged together. He wasn't going to let her slip through his fingers. It was a moment of weakness that made him doubt himself but no more.

He wanted Cleo and if she wanted him back, he was never going to let her go.

+++

Seriously, was the world out to get him?

As soon as he made the promise to himself to set things right, all the electricity in Boo York went out, including the one in their taxi. Thankfully Catty Noir had a solution in order to get them back to the gala.

They climbed to the rooftop of a nearby building and sprinted across, Deuce easily taking the lead because the ghouls were dressed in their heels and he had no idea how they moved so easily.

Elle Eedee started fritzing and although Deuce was panicked he couldn't leave one of Cleo's friends behind.

Frankie called Ghoulia and Abbey said something about the world not being destroyed and Deuce could have sworn she wasn't lying, but they didn't have time to worry about that because if Cleo didn't take him back then it really would feel as if his world was destroyed.

+++

He could see everyone gathered on the rooftop. Next to Cleo was probably that Seth Pharaoh guy everyone kept talking about but he only had eyes for Cleo.

"Cleo!" Deuce shouted, flipping over and landing with grace atop the rooftop. "No!" His heart pounded in his chest. He had come so close to losing Cleo right now, to losing her forever.

"What is the meaning of this?" some scary tall lady asked in anger.

"Cleo, don't do it!" Deuce called out, wanting to get through to Cleo and hopefully she wasn't too mad at him.

But he shouldn't have worried. Cleo still loved him.

"Deuce!" she called out as she ran and flung herself into his arms. He had never been so happy. He spun her around and could not keep his eyes off her. She was radiant.

"You came back?!" Cleo exclaimed and Deuce couldn't tell if she was happy about it or not.

"I didn't want to lose you," he replied honestly. Looking at her now he knew he could never let her go again. "I'm sorry about what I said before," he continued on to say, unable to look at her face. He was ashamed of the words he had said, of the self-doubt he had.

"Cleo, I just want the best for you," he finished off saying, looking into her eyes so she could read the sincerity in them. "And I was afraid I – wahh." His apology was cut off as Cleo grabbed him tightly into a hug. He couldn't believe he almost gave this up.

"I've got the best," Cleo declared as she hugged him tighter. Deuce allowed himself a smile. Everything worked out better than he had hoped and he knew he would be making it up to her in the future.

"Sorry about the golden beard thingy, I didn't mean -"

Cleo cut him off again. "Forget about it, I like you better this way," she said as she took off the expensive pair of sunglasses she had gifted him back in Monster High. Unfortunately she didn't give him much time to shut his gorgon eyes and he accidentally turned a waiter to stone. Cleo replaced his old pair of shades to his face.

"Uhh, sorry," he said to the stone-waiter. In true Cleo fashion, she didn't care and immediately took out her coffin phone an shot a selfie of them.

After Nefera's hissy fit it seemed as if that earlier conversation about the world being destroyed came back as a comet soared straight to them. Deuce covered Cleo as best he could but what good would his arms around her do if that comet hit?

+++

Astranova – the being from the stars was inside the comet. Catty gave her the piece of the comet crystal and all the ghouls started saying things that the crystal helped them with.

"And we found what we've always known, that we are Cleo and Deuce..." Cleo said.

"And nothing changes that," Deuce finished off as they stared into each other's eyes and Cleo leaned up to kiss him. He couldn't have imagined the night going any better than that.

"Are you having a party?" Cut in Astranova.

"Well, it's midnight, I'm in Boo York with my Deuce and my ghoulfriends in the middle of Times Scare, you'd better believe we're having a party!" Cleo announced, her face alight in happiness and excitement and Deuce never saw her so beautiful. Cleo in true happiness was a sight to behold.

They danced the night away, unable to take their eyes off one another.

Deuce knew that he and Cleo had a lot to talk about after this. His insecurities, her hurt as his words, her need to please other people, and how he sometimes didn't feel he fit in – but that could wait for another day. For now he wanted to cherish the look on her face under the night sky in Boo York and immortalize her smile forever.

End.


End file.
